These crockpot mashed potatoes are unbelievably creamy and buttery, made with Russet potatoes cooked right in the slow cooker with chicken broth, then mashed with warm cream, butter and cream cheese. They’re ready in about 5 hours and give you rich, fluffy mashed potatoes without taking up valuable stovetop space.

That alone makes them a lifesaver for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Get the potatoes going early, let the crockpot do its thing, then mash everything right in the slow cooker and keep them warm until dinner is ready.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Russet Potatoes: Their high starch content makes wonderfully light, fluffy mashed potatoes.
• Kosher Salt: Seasons the potatoes from the beginning and brings out their flavor.
• Butter: Added while cooking and again while mashing for rich, buttery flavor.
• Chicken Broth: The potatoes cook right in the broth instead of water, adding savory flavor from the very beginning.
• Cream: Warm it before adding so the potatoes stay hot and absorb it easily. Half-and-half or milk also works.
• Cream Cheese: Our secret for extra-rich, creamy potatoes that hold their texture beautifully.
• Salt and Pepper: Add to taste at the end so you can get the seasoning just right.

Best Potatoes for Mashed Potatoes

Russet potatoes are our favorite for crockpot mashed potatoes. They’re high in starch and naturally fluffy, so they break down easily and absorb all that butter and cream beautifully.

Yukon Gold potatoes also work and will give you a slightly denser, naturally buttery and creamy mashed potato. You can even use a combination of Russets and Yukon Golds if you want the best of both worlds.

How to Make Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

The best part? There’s no big pot of water to boil or babysit on the stove. The potatoes cook right in

This crockpot lasagna is cheesy, saucy and loaded with layers of tender noodles, beef and Italian sausage, cottage cheese and plenty of mozzarella. With about 20 minutes of prep and no need to boil the noodles first, you get all the layers of a classic homemade lasagna without hovering over a pot of pasta or heating up the oven.

And YES, you really can put the noodles in uncooked! They soften right in the sauce as the lasagna slowly cooks, which is exactly why this has become one of my favorite ways to make lasagna.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Ground Beef: Adds hearty, beefy flavor to the meat sauce. We combine it with Italian sausage so neither one overpowers the lasagna.
• Italian Sausage: The easiest way to add loads of flavor without measuring a bunch of extra seasonings. Mild or hot Italian sausage will both work.
• Yellow Onion: Mince it fairly small so it melts into the meat sauce as it cooks.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic adds another layer of savory flavor to the sauce.
• Marinara Sauce: This is one place where using a really good jarred sauce makes a difference. We love Rao’s, but use your favorite marinara or Bolognese sauce.
• Heavy Cream: Just a splash rounds out the acidity of the tomato sauce and makes it a little richer. It’s optional, so feel free to leave it out.
• Lemon Juice: It might sound unexpected, but a little squeeze brightens the rich meat and cheese layers.
• Cottage Cheese: Creates the creamy cheese layer in place of traditional ricotta. We love the texture and mild flavor.
• Egg: Helps bind the cottage cheese mixture so the lasagna holds its layers better when sliced.
• Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated Parmesan adds salty, nutty flavor to the cottag

With just a hint of honey to sweeten the deal, this Honey Mustard Dressing is the perfect balance. Mustard hasn’t always been my favorite, but I’ve been pouring this on just about everything from chicken nuggets, salads, and even used it to dip roasted vegetables!

My friends, I’ve made a LOT of salad dressings over the years, but honey mustard is special (I liked the combination so much I even made a honey Dijon vinaigrette). It really does nail the balance between the sweet honey and bold mustard. If you’ve found it too sweet or spicy before, give this a try. And, since I’m making recommendations, you’re going to want to put it on this crunchy spinach salad too. It’s quite literally the salad I made to go with this dressing.

Honey Mustard Dressing

Around my house, we are unapologetically enthusiastic when it comes to homemade dips, dressings, and sauces. I put my love of whisks to work, and my boys are happy to give me their feedback.

Sometimes, that feedback is expressed with words. Others, it’s simply the speed at which they devour it (or sometimes the speed at which they don’t. Not every recipe can be a winner!). I first shared this dressing in 2012, and I’m thrilled to finally be re-shooting the photos and sharing it again with you.

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This caramel popcorn recipe is soft, chewy and completely covered in buttery homemade caramel made with brown sugar, butter and sweetened condensed milk. It comes together on the stovetop in just 25 minutes with no baking and no candy thermometer, giving you gooey caramel popcorn that stays soft instead of turning hard and crunchy by being baked in the oven.

And that is VERY important around here.

When I was a little girl, there was a man at our church who made caramel popcorn balls every Halloween. I remember being SO excited to get one…until I bit into it. It was the hardest, driest popcorn ball I had ever tried to eat, and I can still remember the scraping and crunching against my teeth. 😂

There is absolutely a time and place for crunchy caramel corn, but caramel popcorn balls are not it for me.

So when I started making caramel popcorn for my own family, I wanted the exact opposite: soft, sticky, chewy caramel popcorn that makes your fingers a complete mess. This is it, and it has become one of our kids’ favorite Sunday night treats.

I’ve learned a few secrets along the way too, including the one type of popcorn kernel I will always buy for caramel popcorn and exactly how long to cook the caramel so it stays soft without being runny.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You only need a handful of ingredients for homemade caramel popcorn. The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card below.

• Mushroom popcorn kernels: My FAVORITE for caramel popcorn. Mushroom popcorn pops into big, round pieces that hold up much better under the hot caramel. I buy Amish mushroom popcorn kernels.
• Unsalted butter: Creates the rich, buttery base of the caramel sauce.
• Brown sugar: Gives the caramel its deep molasses flavor. Light or dark brown sugar both work, and I often use half of each.
• Light corn syrup:
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